Text: Anonymous, "[Review of Poe's Lecture]," New York Herald (New York, NY), vol. XI, no 60, whole no. 4022, March 2, 1845, p. 2, col. 1

[page 2, column 1, continued:]

POETS AND POETRY OF AMERICA. — There was a goodly muster of the literati and the would-bes of this city on Friday evening, at the Society Library, to hear Mr. E. A. Poe deliver a lecture on this subject. More than one of them appeared to wince under the severity of his remarks, which were not a few .... The newspaper press, the monthly magazines, and the quarterlies came in alike for a meed of his censure, as being venal, ignorant, and entirely unfit to form a judgment on the most humblest [[humble]] productions of the writers of this country — of course, his own included — and [he] was particularly severe on “the Dunderheaded critics of Boston,” as he termed certain writers of that city. He then proceeded to criticise several writers personally — the ladies having the preference — and certainly they came in for no small share of his bile — each and every one to whom the public had awarded their approbation (among whom were some of the ablest writers of the old and new world) he censured the most. Mrs. Sigourney had been placed on a pinnacle of fame she did not merit — she was but a poor imitator of Mrs. Hemans — the writings of Misses Davidson were not worthy of the character they had received. — After treating the principal of the female writers of the country in this style generally at some length, and giving extracts from their writings as specimens — but for every good passage pointing out what he deemed ten bad ones — he proceeded to attack the male portion, if possible, in stronger terms. Kettle, Morris, Bryant, Keese, Griswold, Gaynor, Taylor, &c., came in for a share of his lash. There was not one, in his judgment, that came up to the proper standard of a poet — their writings, more or less, abounded in faults to a much greater extent than in beauties. The lecture throughout was the severest piece of criticism that has come within our recollection for some time, but in a very many instances we have yet to learn how far it is just. What the lecturer lacked in dispassionate judgment and expression, was made up by Latin and French adages and extracts; and certainly, if we are to judge from what he advanced on this occasion, and take him at his own valuation, he is the only man in the country that is able to write a poem, or form a proper judgment of the writings of others.